Devon led Shay up the stairs into the common area of the apartments. As the neared the top, he could hear Addison and Jacob talking.
Devon and Shay reached them and Addison said, “I was just telling Jacob something interesting I picked up from Paul Charm…”
“What’s that?” Devon asked.
“Well, he was talking about the Time Traveler Moments for the year to come… He said there’s the 2025 Brooklyn Moment, the 1985 Virginia Moment, the 1985 Off-line Brooklyn Moment and then he said something that seemed off…”
“Which was?” Jacob said.
“He said there was a 1882 Manhattan Moment. I said, ‘Don’t you mean Memphis?’ He said, ‘Ah… Same people… We can say ‘Memphis Moment’ for now.’ He wouldn’t say much more except it would be clear in a few weeks…”
Devon watched Jacob shaking his head and looking at Shay.
“What?” Devon said.
“Monday at NYC SysCo… Liza and I got tired of pretending to work, so we asked Will if he’d hook us up with a contact at the City Register’s office… So… okay… let me go back. Shay… your house… it’s historic. It had to be something that could be tracked… When we were trying to figure out if we all are on the same timeline… I got the idea… Anyway, Liza and I got to look up deeds on that house…”
“My house?”
Jacob nodded. “Also, Liza did some newspaper searching, so we fleshed out a few details. It was built in 1870 by David Ryder for his wife, Carol and daughter Shay. Shay left NY in 1880 to go to Memphis to work with Yellow Fever recovery. We know that from… you know… talking to Shay.”
Shay smiled. “I have her… my memories of that.”
Jacob went on. “In January, 1882, Carol passed away from consumption. Earlier in January, Shay arrived back in NY with friends she made in Memphis… two married couples and the black servant of one of the men… Devon Collier… So… the 3rd floor of the house was quickly remodeled from servant quarters into two bedrooms where the married couples lived. I assume Devon occupied the 2nd bedroom on the 2nd floor…”
Shay shook her head as well.
Jacob shrugged. “We wouldn’t remember it… it hasn’t happened yet. So, David Ryder deeded the house to Shay and he moved into a fancy coach that he had pulled from place to place… And here’s something else that was in the papers… Devon Collier enrolled in Columbia University to study engineering…”
At that, Shay grabbed Devon’s hand and her mouth fell open.
Addison shook her head. “What? What’s going on?”
Devon shook his head. “We weren’t going to bring this up until it is final… Shay’s mom made some calls and everything is on track for me to start at Columbia for spring term…”
Jacob closed his eyes and shook his head. “Wow… How about that?”
Shay looked at Jacob. “Anything else?”
“Shay had no heirs, so before she died, she sold the property and donated all of the money from her estate to Howard University, Tuskegee Institute, Spelman College, and Morehouse College.”
Shay then asked, “Did she ever marry?”
Jacob smiled. “Liza tried to find that out. Nothing was mentioned of it. But, there were some big society page articles… So, summer of 1882, Shay, the two couples… I assume Hannah, Kent, Merritt, and Emma… along with the black servant… Devon… went to Jamaica. The paper speculated that the heiress to the Ryder fortune was going there for a secret wedding. When the six of them returned without the mystery groom, the papers reported the rumors were ‘much ado about nothing.’”
Just then, Devon had an epiphany. “Okay… plot twist… a day or two from now, Shay, Devon, Addison and Jacob will remember us having this conversation about things they are going to do, but haven’t done yet!”
Jacob’s eyes bulged and he looked at Shay. “Oh… wow… Shay is going to know her mother dies in January… that’s why they pack up and rush back to NYC…”
Addison shook her head. “My brain just melted.”
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